


Night Crawling

by KazueEmiko



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Comedy, F/F, Nightmares, and based on a fan art, based on the C rank support from the JPN translation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-14 11:48:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20600279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KazueEmiko/pseuds/KazueEmiko
Summary: When Edelgard is plagued with nightmares, it's up to Byleth to calm her down. However, it seems like she needs to work on her social skills... or does she?





	Night Crawling

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a fan art idea and the JPN translation for the C Rank Support options between Byleth and Edelgard! This fiction is also a Belated Birthday gift to a good friend of mine, Sherin. Happy Belated Birthday, girl! Cheers to a new year where we can cry over Edeleth and other ships, lol.

“Uh… Agh… Fath… Save…”

“?!”

Exposed, thin hairs on her arms prickled upward, goosebumps having formed. It appears that a professor’s nightly patrol on all dormitory grounds was interrupted by a feminine outcry. Had it not been for Sothis, who hovered nearby, she would have lost her composure and fallen face-first on the stone flooring. Byleth rested a hand over her chest, a bit shaken. This still time of day and dense atmosphere amplified the distinct abnormality. How spooky!

“Who said that?”

Faint tremors wiggled its way into the older female’s whisper. From nearby, Sothis cupped her chin and tilted her head. She faintly hummed under her breath.

“A ghost, perhaps? No, that is surely not the case…”

She paused. When the green-haired glanced over at Byleth, she resisted the temptation to smack herself on the forehead. Though the ex-mercenary is well-known for her blank features, she is not immune to other forms of expressions… and those reactions mostly leaned towards a negative connotation. Sothis sharply exhaled and furrowed her brows.

“What is that look upon your face? I am no ghost, if that is what was on your mind!”

Byleth straightened her lips and, almost robotically, turned away from the floating female. This caused Sothis to fly in front of the teacher. She crossed her arms and shoved her face at the warrior. A red anger mark pulsated on the side of her head. As for the other woman, she simply stared at Sothis. Byleth blinked. There was no reaction— Wait a minute… Was that a smirk? Upon closer inspection… Yes! That is a smirk on her face! Subtle, but it’s there! Sothis tightened her grip on her arms.

“How dare you still think of me like one!”

Steam blew out of the short female’s ears as she lightly bumped their foreheads together. It’s time she teaches this child a lesson about respecting their elders! Before Sothis could give Byleth a piece of her mind, another round of agonized groaning intensified the tense air once more. That instantly cracked the tension that upheld the air; their attention diverted back to the source.

“No… Agh…”

It seems that the voice was projected from a bedroom next to them.

And it was a voice Byleth and Sothis knew so well.

They temporarily agreed to a truce to their productive discussion. Byleth reached over to the room’s door. She slowly pushed it open. At first, she was hit with a faint aroma resembling that of a carnation. Unlike Dorothea’s room, in which the numerous strong perfumes would slug just about anybody in the face, Edelgard’s bedroom gently eased the olfactory organs into a pleasant adaptation. Byleth exhaled.

From the wall, there lies the casual noble. Sweat was evident as she tossed and turned in her sleep; the blanket tangled themselves with her legs. The moment Byleth took a step inside of the private quarter, her eyes snapped open.

“Huh?! Who’s there?!”

She quickly sat up on the mattress with wide eyes, her hands scrambling on the soft surface; fingers frantically pat and grabbed the air as if she were searching for a weapon. Her breaths were quick. Dizziness clouded her logic skills as raw instincts took over her motor skills.

Edelgard was hyperventilating.

Dread clouded over the older female. Byleth immediately rushed to her side. She plopped her bottom on the furniture. Without thinking twice, the professor took one of the scarred hands and enveloped it within her own. Not a single peep came from the teal-haired as she gently squeezed Edelgard’s hand. Had she not kept an iron grip, the rising emperor would have torn away! Thankfully, the feeble tugs eventually came to a stop once her respiration rate dipped to normality. From beginning to end, Byleth dared not let go of the noble. 

Fatigue settled into the house leader’s muscles and mental state. Head lowered, Edelgard slowly exhaled.

“Professor… What are you doing here?”

Direct and straight to the point. The tonality and strength in her delivery could fool most everyone about her state. Alas, the instructor could not be fooled by it. She had seen it all. A nightmare that had cursed the poor student bears itself before the teacher! 

Byleth’s thumbs mindlessly rubbed on the rough skin, her hues still glued on the recovering girl. She had to be careful with her words. Although she is no therapist nor socially adept with people outside of Jeralt’s mercenary group and Sothis, the woman knew she had to tread cautiously with Edelgard currently. One wrong sentence, one wrong statement, one wrong word, and she would shatter the student. Even worse, she would obliterate the frail relationship built upon the day they first met. Byleth gulped. Time wasn’t going to patiently wait for her answer. She had to respond to her student now.

“Night crawling.”

“?!”

Edelgard raised her head faster than one could say “what.” She stared long and hard at her professor, her cheeks flaring up. The nightmare that she had been plagued with were immediately squashed by those two words.

That was quite the jest! Not even Dorothea or Sylvain could think of that on the spot! Was it because Byleth was an older woman? No… That cannot be it. Byleth was known to say ridiculous remark and tease her students. Is this one of them? Regardless, an additional layer of shock landed itself on top of the noble’s red face as she fumbled with her words.

“W-What are you— I don’t even— Do you even understand what you just said, Professor?!”

Byleth, still holding onto the 18-year-old’s hand, nodded.

“Yes.”

“Please do not joke like that, Professor!”

There was a mischievous glint in the teacher’s eye.

“It wasn’t a joke though.”

“&%$%#@!”

Incoherent language sputtered out of Edelgard’s lips as her body’s temperature increased by tenfold. This is getting dangerous! If Byleth truly wished for this, isn’t this going too soon?! They aren’t even dating yet! Wait— Why is she going after Edelgard anyway? Couldn’t she have done so with Manuela or Shamir? No… That wouldn’t be right, Edelgard would prefer she NOT do that to anyone other than to Edelgard alone— NO! The noble mentally flailed her arms at the corrupted thoughts. (Young adults always seem to have wild fantasies, don’t they?)

As Edelgard desperately shooed those naughty idealisms and settle the emotional conflict she has about her professor, Sothis leisurely floated by Byleth. She side-eyed the teacher with firm lips.

“So, you’ve stooped down to that level, huh.”

“…”

Sothis glanced over at the Black Eagle’s leader and shook her head. A small sigh left her lips as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

“You are an interesting person… I would never imagine you to say such things. However, you did clear the heavy atmosphere, so I shall commend you for that.”

Heartbeat.

The green-haired flickered her gaze to Byleth. A powerful throb rammed into both of their figures. Divine Pulse. Byleth was going to use it. Before they knew it…

“Professor… What are you doing here?”

They were back to where Edelgard had recently calmed down from her hyperventilation. Patches of wetness stained the young girl’s red loungewear, Byleth’s hands protectively holding onto the student’s… It was all the same. Sothis crossed her arms and hovered next to her host.

“Are you going to retract your response from earlier? I suggest you do not make a jest like that anymore if you do so—”

“Night crawling.”

“…HUH?”

“?!”

Sothis and Edelgard’s reactions overlapped with one another. Their hues widen and pathetically pierced the unbreakable fortress that the sly professor had put up.

“Are you serious?!” the tiny female hollered as Edelgard began to stammer with the same sentence. “Why did you say the same answer again?!”

Her words were ignored! The entire conversation ran exactly as it had before! It was as if the two were following a script! And... And there is it again! That mischievous glint in the teacher’s eye! Now it would only be a matter of time until…

“&%$%#@!”

Yep, there’s the noble overheating to the point steam wafted from the top of her head. Sothis loudly exhaled as she audibly smacked the back of her hand against Byleth’s cheek.

“Oi, what was the purpose of using the Divine Pulse earlier?”

Heartbeat.

There was that throb again. The floating woman narrowed her eyes as she saw the event transpire all the way back to…

“Professor… What are you doing here?”

“THIS AGAIN?!”

Unlike earlier, in which Byleth completely ignored her existence, she finally mumbled,

“Edelgard is cute when she’s embarrassed.”

A loud smack echoed in the room. Sothis had just slapped her own forehead with great ferocity, it would be no surprise if a red mark was left on it! Frankly, if there was something she was grateful for, it was the fact that the Divine Pulse can only be used a certain number of times.


End file.
